Working with a Recruiter? Here’s What You Need to Know

Have you ever received an unsolicited call from a recruiter? As flattering as it may be, getting caught off guard with a job offer from someone you don’t know can be due cause for concern. What is his or her motivation for calling? Who does he or she represent? Does the job he or she is describing even exist? Then again, maybe, just maybe, this call is the big break you’ve been waiting for. But how can you know for sure if the person on the other end of the line is legitimate or just wasting your time?

Whether you’re initiating your own search process or receive a cold call from a recruiter, it’s important to know just who is on the other end of the line and how they fit into the job search process. How do you know who’s who? This list of terms below can help you break down the recruiting industry so you can be certain of who you’re talking to and what exactly it is they bring to the table:

• Executive Search: Executive search companies are hired by corporations to manage and run their search process, usually for highly specialized or senior level positions. Executive search companies have their own staffs of senior recruiters, sourcing and administrative support. When companies hire executive search firms, they usually pay a total of 20-30% of the position’s salary along with some administrative and processing fees. About a third of this is paid up front, a third in the middle of the process and a third after the placement is made.

• Contingent Search: Contingent search companies are also separate entities, but their model is different. A company hires contingent search companies to work on their searches, but it is not an exclusive relationship. Contingent firms only get paid (usually between 10-20% of the first year’s pay, depending on the job market) if they make a placement, so they can work on searches and get nothing unless they present the unique candidate that gets placed.

• In-House Recruiters: Most companies have recruiters that work exclusively for them. They are either salaried employees or contractors who are paid by the hour. An in-house recruiter manages a number of openings, works with the hiring managers, HR and the recruiting team and runs the process internally. In house recruiters try to find the best candidates for their jobs and walk them through the company’s process.

Whether you’re initiating your own search process or receive a cold call from a recruiter, it’s important to know just who is on the other end of the line…

• Candidate Development/Sourcing: This role exists in in-house recruiting groups and external search firms. These people are usually the front line in larger companies, and in other companies in-house recruiters run the entire process from beginning to end. Candidate developers scour the universe looking for “matches” for the jobs they are working on and do a first line “screen” or interview to see if the person is a potential fit. Instead of working on the entire process, this person is responsible for keeping the pipeline full of qualified candidates.

• Research: There are separate research firms and there are research firms inside of companies. The purpose of research is name generation. I may ask a research group to “find me all of the people who work for John Smith at Company XYZ” and they will come back with an org chart. If a recruiter orders research from an external company, they pay by the name for the information.

• Admins/Coordinators: Very often companies have a number of administrative staff to set up interviews and deal with the travel and other details that go into the candidate experience. These people are to be treated like gold, because if they’re not, the recruiter may find out and your likelihood for getting the job will be severely impacted. That being said, these people do not have the feedback that you want in terms of whether or not you are being considered for the job.

So, why is it important to know who is calling you about a job? If the person only gets paid if you take the job, are they really going to give you all of the information—positive and negative—about the role? Possibly yes, but maybe not. As a job seeker, you own your destiny and you know if a job is right for you more than anyone else. Don’t let any type of recruiter, who are really just two-way sales people selling companies, jobs, and candidates, convince you to do anything except what is best for you and your family. As an in-house recruiter, I always tell my candidates, any type of recruiting is about relationships, and if the current opportunities aren’t right, I want to keep the relationship positive, because the next role I have might be a perfect fit.